What Remains
by 1999luke2
Summary: Two groups of two survivors at the end of their rope meet up in the midst of the zombie apocalypse. They must pull together and attempt to flee east, the only place in the US there is no word of walkers in to survive. This story follows the journey from Colorado to West Virginia. Some content is from State of Decay and the War Z.
1. The Deep End

Malissa sat next to the walkie talkie, which was currently on a stack of wooden pallets. She sat in the metal chair next to it, waiting for the familiar buzzing of her sister contacting her. Malissa had been sitting here for almost an hour, waiting for her younger sister Angel to contact her, she had volunteered for a life surviving away from her family, in a city filled with massive hordes of the undead, far from the deserted trailer park Malissa and her group survived in.

She was sent to attempt to piece together the whereabouts of the military or other survivors, Malissa wasn't too thrilled about it, but as Angel was fifteen, the youngest in the group, and she had taken many gymnastic classes, as such, she was the fastest and most nimble the group had.

"Your shift ended three hours ago."

Malissa's head jerked upward. She saw a man in a camoflauge shirt with brown pants, his dark brown hair cut short. It was her boyfriend, Isaac. Sighing, she replied. "I know, but Angel is my sister, I need to know she's okay." "I understand," Isaac said. "I worried about Skylar when he raided the military base last week," he smiled. "How do you tolerate a little brother like him?" Malissa asked.

"Three years in the military can harden people, you should know that," Isaac said. "Yeah, the military can change people…" Malissa said, remembering her years in the military. After a few minutes of talking, all was silent when Malissa heard a familiar buzzing, and Angel's faint voice on the other end of the walkie.

"Angel?! Angel are you alright?!" she cried into the walkie-talkie. "Ha ha ha! You need to see this, here, I'm texting you the picture!" Angel laughed into the walkie. Moments later, Malissa took her phone from her pocket, hearing her ringtone. She opened it, greeted of a picture of several walkers attempting to grab something. A closer look revealed that Angel had taken to higher ground, and had tied a mouse to three sticks held together by duct tape.

Hearing a laugh from the other end of the talkie, Malissa picked it up. "Ha ha! Awesome, right? These idiots can't even reach it, how could we be scared of these?" Angel asked. "Angel, what the hell are you doing?! You were sent there to find the military… wait… Angel, bring the picture up on your phone…" Malissa said. "Fine, fine."

"You see that, that guy in the corner?" Malissa asked. "I don't see anything… oh my god!" In the left corner of the picture, they could see a silhouette of a man with a sniper rifle aimed at the camera. Suddenly, a gunshot sounded over the walkie. Malissa's eyes widened in horror, and she began to hyperventilate.

Isaac put his hands on her shoulders. "Malissa! Snap out of it, we'll find her! Let's get Larry and Dave and we'll go after this guy." Malissa nodded with a determined look in her eyes. Isaac and Malissa stood up, walking through the old trailer park. Springer Ridge wasn't that bad, walkers didn't usually come through, but the group was still suspicious of the woods surrounding the trailers. Isaac and Dave were the two who arrived there first, then after careful searching, the group expanded its members, and everybody got along fine.

…Well, almost everybody.

While Dave was appointed the group's leader, Skylar was never satisfied with his decisions. When someone was hurt, Skylar would try to blame the group's "unfit" leader, as Skylar says. If rations went missing, Skylar decided to pin it on Dave. Most of the group wanted Skylar gone, but Dave would say he wasn't going to kick somebody out of the group just for them being immature and judgmental. Skylar also liked to point out his military experience, and Malissa would shoot him down with "I was in the military two years longer than you. I have the most experience."

By the time the group got to the gate, which had an RV parked next to it acting as a guard tower, the walkie buzzed. "Angel? Angel?!"

"Malissa? I'm fine, that guy doesn't know where I am. I'm hiding, but there are a lot of walkers around me. Please, help!" Angel pleaded. "Don't worry, we'll be there soon," said Malissa. Looking up to the man on the RV, sniper rifle in hand, she called up to him. "Hey Mason, you got a second?" she asked. Mason looked down, brushing some dust off his thick orange jacket. His light brown hair was a bit unkempt from days of sitting on that RV. He climbed down the ladder, happy to be free from the boredom of the makeshift watchtower. "Good you guys had the kindness to talk to me, my brother's too busy running the supply distribution and I need someone to talk to."

"We need help from you, Mason. It's… it's Angel," said Isaac. "Oh lord, what's the girl got herself into this time?" Mason asked, taking a drink of a soda, spitting it out after realizing he'd left it there three days ago. "She's pinned down, surrounded by walkers and some bastard who's out to kill her," Malissa growled. Mason glared.

"If he does anything to hurt the girl, I'll kill him. Slowly."

"Thanks, Mason, we're going to need Larry and Dave to help, too. Get some weapons, alright?"

"Sure thing, Malissa," said Mason. Smiling, Malissa and Isaac walked into the second RV of the three left in the park. "All I'm saying is that we can't keep Angel out there on her own, David." A voice said. "I appreciate your concern for her, I think that as well, but she volunteered to be the scout. We gave her the resources she needs, and she's been fine alone for three weeks, Larry. I've scheduled a talking with Angel about the arrangement on her next return," David said. Malissa and Isaac slipped in, and David took notice of them. "Okay, well, we can talk to Malissa about this first," David smiled, standing from the driver seat, and Larry stepped off the bed in the back. "So, Malissa, we need to talk about Angel-"

"Yes, we do! She's trapped in Campos City! You've got to help me!" Malissa cried out. Larry and David looked at her, uneasy. "…What?" Larry asked. "Long story short, Angel was caught joking around in Campos City by some dickwad with a gun, and we've got to help her!" Isaac said. David opened the glove box, pulling out a revolver, loading it.

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Brooklyn trudged through the thick woods near the church she called home. With a rucksack on her back, she had to be careful not to alert the woods' undead residents. Walkers were slow, but you're slower when you carry a rucksack that has been torn so many times it was barely even made of the same fabric it was first made of. She pushed her ruby red hair out of her eyes.

When she got home, she was going to have a talk with Lily. Brooklyn was done doing all the work in her group. She hated every second of it. Maya was the guard; Lily used the radio to coordinate everyone outside. Why was Brooklyn so upset about doing the work if other were having the same bad day? They weren't.

Brooklyn arrived after Marcus was killed, Ed died soon after. Then Pastor William, Alan, Sam, and so on, if they didn't die a hero, they ran away and died a coward on their way out. Now it was just Maya, Lily, and Brooklyn, and she hated risking her life for them. Brooklyn was not a judgmental woman, but the very second Maya tried to leave the group, the day Lily scolded her for taking one too many clips for herself, Brooklyn knew she was done. Now she had the motivation she needed to stand up to Lily. She barely did anything, while Brooklyn did the work, Lily was sitting in the stupid chair doing god-knows-what while Maya sat outside grumbling to herself, rifle in hand. And to think Brooklyn thought of Maya as her friend.

"I'm home," Brooklyn hissed into the walkie talkie. "I'll crack open a cold one for you," Lily said. Her stupid cheery voice filled Brooklyn's head with rage. Brooklyn looked up at the guard tower to Maya. The very second she made contact with Maya's depressed gaze, Brooklyn glared at her, and threw open the gate. Brooklyn walked through the dying grass, kicking in the door to the church. Lily jumped in shock, standing from her chair, instinctively aiming her gun at Brooklyn. Brooklyn slapped the gun from her hand. Lily looked at her, intimidated. Brooklyn never oppressed them, this was the first time she'd done so.

"Don't point that at me."

"I… I'm sorry. I didn't know-"

"Where's my beer?"

"…Pardon…?" Lily asked.

"I believe you said something about cracking open a cold beer for me, did you not?" Brooklyn asked. "That was a joke…" Lily said. "I just saw a man get killed getting these supplies, and you don't even give me a beer when I get back?" "I didn't know you-"

"I told you about it when I was running for my life!"

"I'm sorry I-"

"Screw you, Lily. You're worthless."

Brooklyn set the supplies down, walking into the kitchen to get the beer she was waiting for. She opened it, walking back in the room and taking a sip. "I'm done Lily. I'm just sick of doing all the scavenging. If we had more members, we'd be doing much better." Lily glared. "But we don't, Brook." Brooklyn put the beer down on the table next to her. "Brook? What's this 'Brook' stuff?" Lily began to walk over to her. "Listen, it's just a friendly nickname."

"We. Are. _Not. _Friends, Lily." Brooklyn hissed. "Listen Brooklyn, I tried to coordinate the group, and they died! We can't change that!" Lily shouted. "Yeah, I guess we couldn't have helped. I guess we could've just sat down, at our worthless little radio, and listened to their dying screams. You're a genius, Lily."

Brooklyn picked up her beer, throwing it at Lily. She ducked, and it flew out the window behind her. Brooklyn walked outside, and looked up at Maya. "Maya, I'm taking watch for a while."

As she climbed up, Maya jumped over the side, walking inside, leaving the gun for Brooklyn. Brooklyn sat in the lawn chair on the tower, holding the gun. Soon, her recent days of hard work caught up with her, and her eyes became heavy and unfocused.

Brooklyn awoke to screams and a church of walkers.

**A.N**

**Hey guys, I'm busy with DAAHF and The Fallen so this story isn't going to get an update for a while. The first part of the prologue was based on some characters I made, (Malissa, Isaac, Angel) Caleb's characters (Mason, David) and Dylan's character (Larry) in The War Z. If you think Brooklyn was unnecessarily harsh, I was just as mad when everybody in my game of State of Decay either left, or died. This story is in the same series of my friend Caleb's fanfic, Risen. It can be found on his account, oober123.**


	2. Another Way

The dark night was pierced by the headlight's glare. Malissa and Isaac looked determinately into the rain. The grey buildings and ruined structures of the city slowly came into focus after about thirty minutes of silent driving. They entered through a broken barricade, behind a hotel. They cautiously pulled into the parking lot before continuing into the city.

The group parked the RV near the street Angel set up camp in. Malissa grabbed a crossbow and a fire axe, Larry took a shotgun and a baseball bat. David and Isaac took hatchets, with Isaac having a rifle, while David took a silenced pistol. Finally, Mason took a titanium bat along with a silenced assault rifle. They cautiously stepped out of the RV into the dead streets.

Campos city seemed like a ghost town, Malissa had been here before during the first weeks of the outbreak, all active soldiers in Colorado were here, too, attempting to establish a safezone when all else failed. The only remaining option available was bombing the city, but the military was unwilling, instead, they attempted to close all exits and entrances, starting with the destruction of the city bridge, and soldiers were set to guard the perimeter.

Of course, when it became noticeable that walkers traveled in hordes near the area, it didn't take long for the city to fall after wave after wave infiltrated the walls. This event was the worst thing Malissa had ever seen, it was her greatest and most devastating failure. But now she was with close friends, all armed and dangerous on a mission to save her sister.

The memories only panicked Malissa, she shivered as she imagined a herd, a massive horde, rounding the corner of the empty streets, heading straight for them…

"Hey, you alright?" Isaac asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. "No… Campos is just, well… it's not one of the places I ever hoped to revisit."

"Ah."

Suddenly, in the distance, the sounds of dozens of shambling feet caused the group to stop. "What the hell is that?" Mason asked. "What we're here to save Angel from…" David said. "Good god, how many are there?" Larry asked. "Who knows? But we need to get going, Angel should be on this street somewhere," said David. The group continued, and far off, occasionally, more hordes could be heard stumbling about.

"Hey, what's that?" Isaac asked. Malissa smiled. "My sister's home. She said she put a small wall of boards and stuff around an alley. "

The "home" was just as she said, an alley, between a gun shop and a pawn shop. Boards had been set up to provide a covering, and a small hole in the boards was the only way in or out other than the roof tops. "Try the walkie," suggested Larry. Malissa took the walkie talkie from her pocket and pressed the button on the side, and spoke. "Hey, sis, you there?" It took about thirty seconds, but Angel replied in a hushed tone. "Malissa? Where are you?" The group smiled. The faint idea of taking one of the group's members back dead vanished.

"I'm outside the camp, if you're there, come out, we have to go."

Angel's small form climbed out of the boards into the rain. Angel looked as Malissa remembered her, small, but not weak. Her dirty blonde hair was still messed up, just as she liked it. She hid some of it under a black toboggan, and she wore an army green jacket along with dark blue jeans. Her white tank top was stained in black blood, obviously from walkers. "You got everything?" Malissa asked. Angel pulled a rucksack out of the hole in the boards.

"Yeah."

"Good. We aren't sending you here again, there's obviously nobody left," said Larry. "I was going to search one last time, but I think you're right. There's nobody-"

"Get down!" David called. Suddenly, he grabbed Malissa and Mason, the two nearest people, and ducked as a bullet flew over his head and a loud gunshot rang out. The sounds of the walkers became louder as they started to track the noise. "We have to run, now!" David called. Everyone followed as the group's leader ran down the street. The rain obscured his vision, but as they got down the block, he changed paths and began swearing as several walkers stumbled into view. As the group passed alleys and buildings, walkers began to pour out, and Malissa grabbed Angel's arm as they ran as fast as possible. The group ran through hordes, slashing, bashing, and shooting the face of any walker that dare stand in their way, and once they were turning the corner to the RV, they had to separate as multiple walkers threw themselves at the members. Malissa pulled Angel into a small opening in the horde, and they ran, the heavy rain had drastic effects on them.

Angel began to fire using the silenced pistol in her rucksack, and Malissa shot arrows into walker's eyes. "Malissa! Are you okay?!" she heard Isaac call from somewhere in the storm. "Isaac? Is that you?" she called back. "Quick! Take the RV and get out of here!" David shouted. Through a small gap in the walkers, Larry threw the keys to her. "Get out of here! We'll be fine!"

Angel shot a walker getting too close as Malissa caught the keys. The horde hissed and screamed, and Angel was grabbed. The walker came close to biting her, when an arrow impaled its forehead. "Thanks." "C'mon!" Angel felt a strong tug on her arm, and Malissa ran to her right, and several walkers formed a wall around her and her sister. In moments, many of the walkers had fallen, but the oncoming horde did not slow.

Malissa did not stop running until they got to the parking lot where the RV was. Just as Angel was about a foot from the steps, a loud gunshot rang out. Malissa jumped to the ground, but when she heard crying, she looked to Angel; she was writhing on the ground, and clutching her left leg, which was leaking blood rapidly. Malissa scooped her sister into her arms and sprinted up the steps, and shoved the keys into the ignition.

Angel examined her wound as the RV left Campos. Malissa looked in the rear-view mirror. The group was backing up onto the wrecked bridge, the horde closing in.

. - . - . - .

The church was on fire. Maybe a can of diesel or gas spilled, and gunfire could be heard. So, that's the explanation Brooklyn went with.

Hopping off the guard tower, she yanked her gun free, and began to fire, and walkers began to fall. When they took notice of her, Brooklyn saw just how far outnumbered she was. She heard a scream coming from inside the church.

"Maya, please! Y- you can't do th-" a gunshot could be heard from inside and Lily screamed in pain. Brooklyn wasted no time in bursting through the front doors of the church and surveying the scene before her. The burning room was full of blackened smoke, but just barely visible, Maya held her prized rifle down, and Lily was on her knees, crying. She was clutching her stomach, which was gushing crimson blood. The walkers began to wander in from the back door of the church, as they entered the room, Maya kicked Lily in her shoulder, and hard enough to knock her into a nearby walker as the spray of bullets Brooklyn fired at Maya missed. Maya dove through the nearest window, and Brooklyn fired her shotgun as she ran around the back of the church. "Damnit!" she cried, running to the supply locker, grabbing her (stolen) Sheriff car keys and shoving as many shells as she could hold into her hunting vest's pockets.

She was at the door as she was stopped; she looked down, gasping as she saw Lily, blood-covered and clearly mortified, on the ground clutching her leg.

"I'm sorry, please! Help me!"

Brooklyn looked at the walkers, but Lily caught her eye. Her entire bottom half was gone, and the walkers were too busy eating it to attack the two.

"I'm sorry, I would if I could, and you know I would. I'm sorry, too," Brooklyn raised her shotgun to Lily's face.

"What?! No, wait! Nonono-" Brooklyn fired and jerked her hand free as she dashed outside, and saw Maya was distracted with killing the undead surrounding her. Brooklyn took the opportunity to reload, slowly making her way over to Maya. When the walkers were done, and Maya turned, she was not quick enough to dodge Brooklyn's fist, knocking her into the church's surrounding stone wall. Maya dodged the second, and Brooklyn was stunned by the pain from striking the wall. Maya kicked Brooklyn's foot from under her, and sent her fist onto the side of her head. She rolled to dodge Maya's stomp, and got up, using the butt of her gun to hit Maya's stomach. Brooklyn slammed her foot onto the corporal's abdomen, and punched her.

Maya lay on the ground, and Brooklyn aimed the gun at Maya's face. "Wait! Stop, you win, okay?" Maya said. "What the hell was that? You got Lily killed!"

"We had to go, Lily was bitten, you didn't see!"

"Bitten? The church was empty!"

"There were dead walkers! We shot them, but they weren't near us, pay more fucking attention!"

Brooklyn did not lower her gun.

"Alright, listen. Put the gun away, we can leave! We can survive, the two of us."

She contemplated this. Maya was her friend, well, her one friend. Or was she? Brooklyn and Maya weren't on the best of terms, and Brooklyn held a grudge on her for attempting to leave, but Brooklyn had to ask herself, was it really that wrong to want to leave? Even though she didn't like to abandon others, Brooklyn knew if she were in Maya's position, she would've left far faster.

She helped Maya up, and the two of them busted through the church gates. They climbed into her car, and sped off into the dark night.


End file.
